By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Philadelphia 76ers (20-20) are just a week removed from their London loss to the Boston Celtics (34-11), but the two teams will go head-to-head again this evening, their final meeting of the regular season. To this point, Boston has won all three meetings, so Philadelphia will have one final chance to avoid the season sweep tonight at the TD Garden. The game will be nationally televised on TNT.
If defeating the Celtics this season has been tough already, it will be an even taller task tonight with the Sixers missing JJ Redick after the veteran injured his left leg on Monday. He'll be out for at least 10-14 days. Meanwhile, the Celtics will be without Kyrie Irving. The Boston star is ailing with a left shoulder injury. Surely his absence will make tonight's match-up a little more feasible for a Sixers team that has struggled to beat Boston all season.
Philadelphia has won five of six and six of their last eight. The Celtics have earned victories in seven of their last eight. Their seven-game winning streak was snapped on Tuesday with a loss to the Pelicans.
Bayless moved to the starting lineup
With JJ Redick sidelined, Jerryd Bayless will shift into a starting role for the time being. While most fans won't like the sound of this despite the Sixers lack of depth, Bayless has actually been more effective offensively as a starter than he has off the bench.
"I don't think it changes too much," Bayless said on Wednesday. "It's still the same position, I'm just starting instead of coming off the bench, so it's not too different."
In 10 games as a starter this season, the veteran guard is averaging 11 points per game, shooting 44.9 percent from the floor and 40.4 percent from beyond the arc. In those 10 games, he averaged 30.7 minutes. As for his numbers off the bench, in 24 games, Bayless is averaging 22.4 minutes and 7.4 points, but his shooting falls to 40.1 percent overall and 35.3 percent from three-point range.
Final look at the Celtics in regular season
The Sixers have lost all three meetings with Boston this season by scores of 102-92, 108-97 and most recently 114-103. Philadelphia has held leads in two of the three match-ups, but Joel Embiid has not played well and without Redick, Embiid is one guy who will need to perform better if they plan to win tonight's game.
Embiid has played two of the three games against Boston this season, averaging 13 points and 11 rebounds while shooting just 30.3 percent from the floor and .091 from beyond the arc, his worst numbers against any team this season.
The Sixers are seventh in the NBA in points scored per game this season (108.6), but Boston has the second best points against (98.1), so despite Philadelphia's ability to score, Boston's defense is a good one. In the three games against Boston this season, the Sixers have scored 97.3 points per game while the Celtics have 108 per game.
Dario Saric is shooting just 37.8 percent against Boston this season and Robert Covington is at 35.5 percent. With Redick out, these two in addition to Embiid will need to improve these numbers to have a chance. Ben Simmons is shooting 48.6 percent against the Celtics. Jerryd Bayless is averaging 10.3 points per game, shooting 52.2 percent from the floor and 63.6 percent from three-point range.
First half reflecting, mid-season awards
The Sixers currently sit at 20-20 prior to their game against Boston, which will signal the midway point of the season. If you told a group of fans that the Sixers would be at .500 at this point in the season, most would be elated. Sure, there are games they could have and should have won, but all in all, 20-20 is not too shabby for a team with so many new faces and young players developing.
In episode seven of the Sixerdelphia Pick Swap Podcast, myself along with Josh Liddick and Jesse Larch discuss our mid-season award winners for the Sixers along with our reflections on the first half of the season. Also talked about is Redick's injury and how it will affect the team moving forward in the short-term. Listen for free below and make sure to subscribe to Sports Talk Philly on Soundcloud, iTunes and Google Play.
Projected Lineups
| Matchup Preview | January 18, 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Philadelphia 76ers (20-20, 10-10 Away) |
Boston Celtics (34-11, 18-6 Home) |
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Game Information
Tip-off: 7:00 p.m.
Location: TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
TV: TNT
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
